Ethiopian Americans

Minister of Justice

Ethiopia

Deputy General Prosecutor

Sept 5, 2006 (WASHINGTON) - An Ethiopian prosecutor who said the government forced him to pursue opposition leaders has requested asylum in the United States, he said Tuesday.

"I have been ordered by the government to institute charges on CUDP leaders," said Alemayehu Zemedkun, referring to Ethiopia's opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party.

"I have tried to show them the legal impediments.There is not enough evidence ...But they insisted," he said by telephone from Washington, where he has sought refuge.

Zemedekun, 41, whose wife and two children remain in Addis Ababa, arrived in the United States on August 2 after the government realised he was not going to launch a judicial attack on the opposition, and considered him sympathetic to them.

He was a deputy general prosecutor when the government urged him to set charges against opposition leaders it alleged had plotted to overthrow the government after the May 2005 elections.

Arguing that there was no evidence against the opposition leaders, Zemedekun said he had written a report to the government to convince them to abandon the effort, but that he failed.He subsequently offered his resignation but was refused.

A Deputy Attorney General Alemayehu Zemedkun thus fled to the United States at the beginning of August where he asked for political asylum.Zemedkun, 41, left his wife and two children in Addis Ababa and fled to the USA after the Ethiopian authorities had asked him to take over the case of the charges against the leaders of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP, opposition) imprisoned in Addis Ababa.He had attempted to convince his superiors, including the Minister of Justice Shemeles Kemale, that there was no case to answer, but to no avail.He then decided to go into exile.Since then, his testimony on Internet web sites and Ethiopian opposition blogs has shed a blunt light on the actions and attitudes of the Ethiopian executives, such as the minister of justice.

Sept 6, 2006 (WASHINGTON) - An Ethiopian prosecutor who said the government forced him to pursue opposition leaders has requested asylum in the United States, he said Tuesday.

"I have been ordered by the government to institute charges on CUDP leaders," said Alemayehu Zemedkun, referring to Ethiopia's opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party.

"I have tried to show them the legal impediments.There is not enough evidence ...But they insisted," he said by telephone from Washington, where he has sought refuge.

Zemedekun, 41, whose wife and two children remain in Addis Ababa, arrived in the United States on August 2 after the government realised he was not going to launch a judicial attack on the opposition, and considered him sympathetic to them.

He was a deputy general prosecutor when the government urged him to set charges against opposition leaders it alleged had plotted to overthrow the government after the May 2005 elections.

Arguing that there was no evidence against the opposition leaders, Zemedekun said he had written a report to the government to convince them to abandon the effort, but that he failed.He subsequently offered his resignation but was refused.

"I have been ordered by the government to institute charges on CUDP leaders," said Alemayehu Zemedkun, referring to Ethiopia's opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party.

"I have tried to show them the legal impediments.There is not enough evidence ...But they insisted," he said by telephone from Washington, where he has sought refuge.

Zemedekun, 41, whose wife and two children remain in Addis Ababa, arrived in the United States on August 2 after the government realised he was not going to launch a judicial attack on the opposition, and considered him sympathetic to them.

He was a deputy general prosecutor when the government urged him to set charges against opposition leaders it alleged had plotted to overthrow the government after the May 2005 elections.

Arguing that there was no evidence against the opposition leaders, Zemedekun said he had written a report to the government to convince them to abandon the effort, but that he failed.He subsequently offered his resignation but was refused.